


Family Footy Day

by what_a_gust



Series: ffd au [3]
Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F, Very very fluffy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-05
Updated: 2019-03-05
Packaged: 2019-11-12 09:54:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18008720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/what_a_gust/pseuds/what_a_gust
Summary: Based on this post I made on tumblr: One day tc are gonna have kids and those kids are gonna think they have good foot skills and then tc are gonna be like let’s go play as a family, kids vs us, and then they’re gonna destroy their kids for the fun of it and I’ll never know for sure it happened but I can’t wait





	Family Footy Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LittleDanvers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LittleDanvers/gifts).



**Monday**

Christen looks up from the notebook she’s writing in to see that it’s just about 2:30. She slips the cap back onto the pen with a click and closes her journal before she pushes the chair back from her desk and stands up.

She grabs her jacket off the back of the chair and sticks her arms through the sleeves as she walks out of her office and down the hall toward the front door.

  
_Going to get the kids, do you know around when you’ll be home?_

 _I’m hoping to get out of here by 5, so maybe 5:30?_  
_Walk safe! _  
_ Love you!_

_It’s barely a 5 min walk, I’ll be fine…_

_:/_

_Love you too…_

_Was that so hard ;)_

_*eye roll emoji* *kiss face emoji*_

By the time she’s done texting Tobin, she’s standing outside the kid’s school ready for pick-up. She puts her phone away and looks around to see if any of the other parents she likes to chat with are there. Before she makes eye contact with anyone, she feels a tug at the bottom of her jacket.

Brandon has his backpack in one hand and some papers in the other, holding them out toward Christen. “Hi Mommy, can you hold this? I wanna go on the playground while you wait for Casey and Hallie.”

She can’t help but smile at his cute little face but manners are important so before she’ll let him off the hook she asks, “What do you say?”

“Please! Pretty please, Mommy!”

“Go ahead baby, but no arguing when I say it’s time to go.” She takes the papers from him, he already dropped the bag at her feet, and he’s running off to join his friends on the slide.

Eventually, Hallie and Casey make their way over to her. She throws Brandon’s bag over her shoulder and before she can even say hello to them they’re holding their bags out to her.

“If you’re gonna carry Brandon’s you hafta carry mine too, Mom. It’s only fair,” Hallie claims.

“Yeah, Mommy. It’s only fair,” Casey echoes her older sister.

“Well, hello to you too, young ladies,” she says with a smile at her daughters’ antics. “Why don’t you do me a favor and go get Brandon from the playground and then we can all carry our own bags, okay?”

Hallie rolls her eyes, way too grown up for Christen’s liking, but tugs her sister along toward the jungle gym without arguing.

The walk back to their house is short so each kid gets one minute to give the highlights of their day.

Brandon got to play with blocks, which has been his highlight most days for the past month. But he also got to see Jeremy, his friend who was home sick at the end of last week, so it really was a good day.

Casey started a new reading book today with her best friend Lily and they really like it. When Christen asks which book she says, “Harry Potter! The really old one, from when you and mama were kids!” And Christen just shakes her head and laughs because Casey is right but she doesn’t really love to be reminded.

Hallie tells a story about her best friends Maddie and Heather causing some kind of chaos during science that Christen doesn’t quite hear but she laughs along at Hallie’s expression.

When they get home, Christen unlocks the door and sends the kids upstairs to put their backpacks away and wash their hands before they come back down for snack.

She heads into the kitchen as they run up the stairs. She opens the fridge and grabs the celery then takes the peanut butter and raisins from the pantry and gets to work on making them each their own “Ants on a Log.”

Just as she’s putting the last “ant” on, she hears the distinctive swish and click of the screen door to the back yard opening and closing.

She peers out the window above the sink that looks over the patch of grass next to the patio. The dogs are laying in the sun and each of the kids is standing over a ball. Hallie flicks hers up first and starts juggling, quickly moving into low-low-highs. Casey tries hard to follow but can’t quite control the ball when it comes down from the high yet. Brandon is having trouble getting the ball up on his foot so he picks it up with his hands and drops it down. He’s able to get a few before a miss-hit sends the ball across the yard and he scrambles after it.

Christen slides the window up so she can hear what they’re saying. Hallie is giving Casey instructions and puts her own ball down to help Casey position her foot.

When Brandon makes his way back over, she grabs the ball from him and says, “like this, B” showing him how to catch the ball on it’s way back up and then drop it again so that he can practice his first touch.

Christen is so enamored with the sight that before she realizes what she’s doing she’s called Tobin.

“Hey, babe. You good”

“Honey, we have the cutest kids.”

“I know,” Tobin laughs, “I mean, I’m their mama and I’m the cutest person you know, so that shouldn’t be a surprise. Is that why you called?”

Christen rolls her eyes at Tobin’s line but answers, “Yeah, they’re playing footy in the backyard and I thought you’d like to know. Hal is so good with Case and B. It’s really sweet.”

Tobin laughs gently. “I love them, and I love you, and I love how much you love them. I have to finish up so I can come home soon. Love you!”

“Love you too, honey. See you soon.” Christen hangs up the phone and then calls out the window to the kids, “Snack is ready, don’t forget to wash your hands again!”

 

**Tuesday**

  
Even though Tobin teased Christen about it yesterday, she knows that there really isn’t a safer walk than the one between the kids’ school and their house. 

Just as she expected, the clock strikes 3 and she hears the gate to the backyard swing open and feels the dogs get up from under the table. She meets the kids in the back as they throw their stuff down on the patio and immediately grab the balls they’d been playing with the day before.

“Hey kiddos, have a good day?”

They all nod and Brandon tugs on the bottom of Tobin’s shirt. “Mama, can we play you and me as a team against them,” pointing at his sisters.

“What do you say girls, want to play against me and B?’

Instead of answering, Hallie runs over to the bin where they keep their outdoor toys and grabs the cones to set up two goals. Then, without second thought, she kicks the ball out from under Tobin’s foot and scores, doing a summersault as her goal celebration.

“That was a little excessive Hal, no?” Tobin laughs and grabs the ball for the restart.

She chips it over Hallie and Casey so that Brandon can run onto it but Casey’s stride is longer enough that she gets back before he gets there.

After a few more tries that don’t go their way, Brandon stops the game by sitting on the ball. “Mama, I change my mind. I wanna be on a team with Hallie and Casey. They keep winning. Can I switch?”

Tobin just shrugs, “Go ahead, bud. I’ll miss you though.”

He gets up and hugs her. “It’s okay, Mama, I’m still right here.”

They keep playing until Tobin feels a buzz in her pocket, a text from Christen:

_Hope I haven’t heard from you because you’re busy taking the kids to swim and forgot to text me that they got home alright. Text me when you get there <3 _

“Kids, it’s time for swim. We gotta go, right now! Go grab your swim bags, you can change there. I’ll put the cones away.”

Hallie just laughs at how frantic Tobin is but Casey asks worriedly, “are we gonna be late?” as she makes her way inside.

“Nah, it’s fine, just hurry up!”

As she finishes putting the cones away, she remembers that she never fed the kids so she rushes inside and grabs some cliff bars from the top of the pantry, where Christen pretends not to see them (since really they’re more sugar than anything else) and stuff them in her pockets.

The kids come running down with their stuff and pile into the car with no complaints. As Tobin backs out of the driveway, she tosses the bars back to the kids and they cheer for the special treat.

“You guys are lucky Mom texted me, but don’t tell her about snack today. Okay? And make sure to take the wrapper in with you and throw it away inside.”

Ten minutes later, Tobin finally texts Christen back:

 _Hey baby, sorry got caught up with them. They’re all wet!_  
_I mean set…_  
_Well, I guess they’re wet too_  
_Because they’re at swim_  
_Ya know_  
_Lol_

 _How late were you?_  
_Lol_ (Christen definitely isn’t laughing.)

 _Almost not at all_  
_5 mins…_  
_Sorry_

 _It’s not me you should apologize to_  
_But thank you_  
_I should be wrapping up here soon_  
_See you at home_

 _Ok, see you soon_  
_Love you_

_Love you too_

 

**Wednesday**

  
Christen meets Sarah for lunch, just like she does every Wednesday. They’re the only two moms in their book group who don’t have 9-5 jobs so they take it as an opportunity to gossip and vent and enjoy each other’s company.

Christen is grateful that she’s made friends she can rely on in Portland. Some of the other girls from Tobin’s days on the Thorns still live in the area but they’re really more Tobin’s friends than hers. And as much as she still loves her all of her former teammates, most of them live at least a plane ride away so weekly lunch dates aren’t an option.

Sarah has twins in Hallie’s class so when they finish eating they drive over to the school and enjoy the early afternoon sunshine while they continue their conversation.

One by one, the kids come over and soon enough it’s time for them to head over to the girls’ practice across town. Even though Casey is three years younger than Hallie and the twins, she practices with their team once a week.

Christen is proud of Hallie for always encouraging her sister rather than being annoyed that her little sister is always around. It reminds Christen of her relationship with Channing when they were little and she’s glad that she was able to give her children the same opportunity to be close with their siblings.

Christen really enjoyed having her parents as coaches when she was a kid. But, when she and Tobin were getting ready to have kids, they thought a lot about what role soccer should play in their kids’ lives and what role they should play in that relationship. They decided that having parents for a coach is one thing but having parents who are world champions in that sport as a coach is something totally different and an unfair amount of pressure to put on any kid. As such, they make sure to encourage their kids on and off the field but leave all of the formal instruction to the coaches. They try really hard not to step on any toes and, even when things are going awry during a game, only give advice when asked directly.

As soon as they get to the field, the girls go running off and Sarah steps away to answer a phone call.

Brandon looks up at his mom with his big, honey-colored eyes, and asks, “Mommy, am I too big for uppies? I never get them anymore,” his face drooped in a pout. She knows he’s manipulating her, she carried him around all day during Hallie’s tournament the weekend before, but she’s powerless against his request.

“Not yet, baby,” she laughs as she scoops him up and he wraps his arms around her neck, giving her a big kiss on the cheek.

“Love you, Mommy!”

“I love you too, sweet boy.” Christen’s heart is full and she can’t help but wish in that moment for him to never grow up.

They sit down on the bleachers and watch the girls warm up. Eventually, they both get bored. Brandon goes around looking for sticks and twigs play with and Christen pulls her book out of her purse.

When Brandon has built, and knocked over, and re-built his stick fort as many times as he wanted, he crawls under the bleachers and pokes up at Christen’s leg. She jumps in surprise but then realizes its him and leans over to ask him, “What are you doing under there, B?”

“Just saying hi,” he says with a shrug and a raised eyebrow that she knows he learned from her. “Will you come play with me?”

“What do you want to play? We could do your reading for tonight?”

“Mommy, homework isn’t playing. Come on. I wanna play. Could we play soccer? Or Monkey!” he asks excitedly.

Christen climbs off the bleachers and put her book away, taking a ball out of Hallie’s soccer bag over by the team’s bench. “How can we play Monkey if there’s no one in the middle?” she asks hoping that he’ll let it go.

Instead, he answers, “I could be in the middle. Mommy, you’re definitely good enough to be like two regular people. You have a gold medal!” and she wonders how her baby boy got to be so charming. _Must be having Tobin for a mom_ , she thinks.

They spend the rest of the girls’ practice playing. Brandon stand facing Christen and every time he starts to move toward her, she gently chips the ball right over his head so he has to turn around to get it. As he does that, she jogs to the other side so that they’re facing each other again.

“See, Mommy, it’s working!”

“You were right, B. Thanks for playing with me,” she says as she scoops him and the ball up when the girls’ practice comes to an end.

 

**Thursday**

  
It’s Tobin’s favorite day. Every week. Well, almost every week (sometimes one of them has to be away for a work trip and those weeks suck).

Usually, she and Christen spend the day together, working from home and catching up on their alone time. Then, she gets to take Hallie to u12 practice a few towns over and watch as her daughter develops the same love for the beautiful game that she has.

This particular Thursday may be the best one yet. When they went to get coffee earlier that morning, the barista was flirting with her shamelessly, not that she noticed, but it got Christen all riled up and possessive. It’s been working in her favor all day.

As soon as they get home, Christen has Tobin pinned against the door.

“Where are we?” Christen rasps against Tobin’s throat.

She responds, a bit confused, “In our house?”

Christen bites her shoulder. “In my house,” Christen clarifies as Tobin gasps. She gets the picture. Jealous Christen rarely comes out to play but when she does, Tobin makes the most of it.

“Whose are you?” Christen pushes her harder against the door.

“I’m yours, baby.” Tobin’s voice gets caught in her throat, “you’re the only one for me.”

Christen pulls her shirt down and continues biting across her collar bone when Tobin scoops her up and carries her upstairs.

Now, they’re sitting in the car in the parking lot at the school, waiting for the kids to be dismissed. Usually, the most Christen will go for is a few kisses on the cheek. Today, however, she’s practically in Tobin’s lap in the driver’s seat, still going to town on her neck.

“Babe, you’ve got to stop,” Tobin grumbles. “I can’t believe I’m the on who has to be mature and responsible in this situation. But it’s practically 2 o’clock. The kids will be here any minute.”

Just as the main doors of the school open, Christen pushes herself off Tobin’s chest and back into her own seat. Then she looks over at her and says sheepishly, “Honey, you might want to look in the mirror before the kids get in the car.”

Tobin quickly tugs a quarter-zip over her head and pulls the collar up, “You are in so much trouble later, missy.”

“Can’t wait,” Christen laughs as she hops out of the car when she sees Brandon walking toward them.

“Mommy! Look what I made today!” He holds out a little bird, or maybe a plane, Christen isn’t sure, made out of thin wooden rods and way too much glue.

“It’s beautiful, B! Show Mama!”

He climbs in the front seat where Christen left the door open to show her and Tobin pulls him in for a hug. “Nice work, little man!”

Casey and Hallie show up a few minutes later so Brandon scrambles out of the car and Hallie takes his place.

“Have fun at practice, Hal,” Christen leans in to give her oldest a kiss on the forehead before Tobin drives off.

“Will do, Mom,” Hallie laughs gently.

Hallie does not have fun at practice. She’s not sure what’s wrong but she can’t seem to get her first touch to land the way she wants it. And the team keeps shouldering her off the ball. Even though she is two years younger than most of them, and way smaller, it’s still frustrating and the rain certainly isn’t helping. And when they do shooting drills at the end, she tries to channel her frustration into her shots but ends up hitting the ball to hard, and thus too high, almost every time.

Tobin is pacing back and forth on the sideline, mindlessly flicking a ball up, and doing her best to send good thoughts Hallie’s way.

She’s lost in thought when she hears the sound of a soccer bag dropped forcefully at her feet. Hallie is more annoyed than she usually is, even after a bad game, and Tobin is kind of surprised.

“You okay, hun?” she asks and Hallie just glares at her.

Instead of picking up Hallie’s bag and heading toward the car, despite the fact that the rain is picking up, Tobin takes the ball she was juggling out on the field and starts freestyling.

Once Hallie takes her gear off she stands there, still pissed, waiting for Tobin to come back so they can go home. “Ma, what are you doing? I just wanna go home. Come on!” she yells, letting her irritation show.

“Come on, babe. Just play with me for a little. We’re already wet, it’ll be fun!”

Hallie knows that if she ever wants a ride some she doesn’t really have a choice but she answers, “But I’m already in my slides.”

Tobin just laughs and kicks her shoes over to the sideline, “You know how I love some barefoot footy!”

Begrudgingly, Hallie shuffles over and steals the ball from Tobin. (Tobin may have let her). They pass back and forth, getting further and further apart, until Hallie hears the sound of the ball leaving her foot just right and and sees the ball land squarely against Tobin’s chest.

“Ready to shoot on me? I’ve been practicing my dives,” Tobin goads hoping that it’ll help Hallie’s confidence.

Hallie takes maybe fifty shots and Tobin doesn’t save a single one. She does fling herself in the mud a at least a dozen times, more for show than any real attempts at being a goalie.

Almost forty minutes later, the sky has gotten dark and Hallie and Tobin are covered in mud, soaking wet but they’re both laughing and having fun and Tobin’s heart swells with pride, both in her daughter for working hard and in herself for being a good parent.

“Mom is gonna kill us,” Hallie whispers loudly as they gather their belongings.

“So what?” Tobin laughs. “We’ll just go in through the back and put our clothes in the laundry as soon as we get back, she won’t even notice.”

Even though they both know that’s not true, they decide they really don’t care. And Tobin knows that a little mud on the carpet and a stern talking-to is more than worth it for the smile on her daughter’s face.

 

**Friday**

  
Tobin manages to get home two hours before she usually does on Fridays and decides to join Christen in picking up the kids.

They leave the house a little early and take the dogs with them. They go for a walk around the neighborhood, each holding one leash so that they can also hold hands.

Tobin takes a deep breath and looks up at the sky. She takes in the vastness of the blue over the tops of the trees that line their street. “It’s so beautiful,” she says so softly, she isn’t sure she even said it out loud until she hears Christen asking her, “what is?”

“I don’t know, everything? The sunshine, our neighborhood, you, the kids? My life, really.”

“God, I can’t believe I married such a sap,” Christen roles her eyes but grips Tobin’s hand a little tighter.

“But you wouldn’t have it any other way,” Tobin teases back. And Christen has no choice but to agree.

The route they decided on gets them to the school with a few minutes to spare so they have the dogs lay down and Tobin stands behind Christen, wrapping her arms around her waist so that she can rest her chin on her shoulder.

“I went grocery shopping this morning, we had like almost no food in the house when I was making breakfast this morning,” Christen chides. (Tobin maybe was supposed to go on Wednesday, but who can say for sure).

“You’re the best, thank you baby,” Tobin says against the back of her neck.

“I was thinking maybe we could cook as a family tonight. Start teaching the kids the basics a little bit?”

Just after 5, the kids have gotten most of their homework for the weekend done. (Tobin will always be amazed that Christen somehow managed to get all three of their kids to be on top of their school work instead of procrastinators like she is.) Brandon is bothering the dogs for something to do so Christen decides they can start making dinner.

Christen takes all of the ingredients out of the fridge and sits the kids down at the counter. She explains how to check the vegetables to make sure they’re still good and then how to wash them so that they’re ready to be eaten. She teaches them about the importance of patience when waiting for water to boil and putting the fish in the pan skin side down.

While the vegetables are roasting in the oven, the kids set the table. Once that’s done, she sends them up to shower and tell Tobin to go with them to supervise.

Twenty-five minutes later, the fish sits on top of the vegetables on a beautiful platter and the couscous is her favorite bowl. She lights some candles, turns down the lights, and pours everybody some sparkling grape juice, deciding that there doesn’t need to be anything particularly special going on to have a special dinner with your family.

With the kids all shiny-clean and Tobin’s shirt a little soggy, they sit down together to say grace. Though Christen is usually quite, tonight, she chimes in when Tobin finishes, “Thank you, God, for loving my family and allowing us to be together on this night.”

The look of adoration Tobin gives her makes it more than worth it.

They eat, and chat about their weeks, and Brandon “drops” his squash on the ground for the dogs. And when they’re done, each kids clears their place without being asked.

Tobin and Christen finish the dishes and call the kids back down to the family room, “how would you guys feel about a movie night?”

“Yes!” they all cheer in tandem and jump onto the couch.

Hallie grabs the remote and opens Netflix, scrolling over to the kids’ profile. “Can we watch She’s the Man?” she asks with genuine enthusiasm.

Tobin and Christen can’t help but laugh and roll their eyes, “as long as it’s okay with your siblings.”

“It’s fine with me,” Casey chimes in, so Hallie turns it on and they all snuggle in together under a big blanket as the opening credits play.

The movie has aged better than either Tobin or Christen expected but all three kids are asleep before it ends.

They wake Hallie up gently and send her upstairs to get in bed. As they carry Casey and Brandon up, Tobin jokes, “that movie really shoulda been gay.”

“I know honey, but at least we’re gay,” Christen laughs.

“Fair point, I love being gay with you.”

“I love being gay with you too.”

 

**Family Footy Day**

  
When Tobin wakes up just after 7 to a cold nose pressed against her foot, she gets up and lets the dogs out, deciding to let Christen sleep.

She walks back inside to see the kids strewn around the living room, Brandon is drawing and both girls are reading.

“How would you feel about pancakes?” she asks and they all clamber up to run into the kitchen. “Good I guess,” she chuckles to herself.

They each help with the batter but when it comes time to cook, she doesn’t want them around the hot skillet so she sends them off to play with a reminder that Mommy is still asleep.

She’s about halfway done when she hears the first crash. She turns down the heat before running into the hall to see what the commotion is and finds the kids at the bottom of the stairs looking guilty as a ball rolls back toward them along with one of the picture frames that’s supposed to be mounted to the wall. Tobin bounds up, rehangs the frame and jogs back down the stairs.

Christen appears at the top of the stairs, “What’s going on here?”

“Sorry, Mommy. We didn’t mean to be noisy. You could go back to sleep,” Brandon says.

“Yeah, sorry, Mom.” Hallie clarifies, “we were just trying to see if we could chip the ball and get it to land on each of the steps without rolling back down but Cas -,” who gives her a shove, “I mean - I might have chipped it a little too hard.”

Tobin roles her eyes at the kids’ antics but since Christen doesn’t seem too upset she lets it go. “Alright, well why don’t you go put the ball away and set the table while I finish up breakfast so Mommy can get dressed,” she offers and the kids slink away.

“Good morning, baby,” she calls up the stairs as Christen heads back to their room.

“’Morning, T, I’ll be down in a minute,” Christen shouts back.

A few minutes later, Tobin feels her wife’s arms wrap around her waist and feels a kiss against the side of her neck.

“Don’t you think they’ve gotten a bit too confident in their skills? I think, maybe, we should take them to the park and put them in their place,” Christen whispers as she smirks into Tobin’s shoulder.

A smile spreads across Tobin’s face as she flips the last of the pancakes. “You’re so evil, let’s do it!”

Everyone does a surprisingly good job of keeping the syrup on the plates and eats their fruit without a fuss.

As Christen starts to clear the table, Tobin gets the kids’ attention. “Hey kiddos, why don’t you go get dressed, we’re gonna have a family day at the park!”

The suggestion sparks their excitement and they all rush back to their rooms, the dogs following enthusiastically as if there might be something up there for them.

Tobin finds Christen in the kitchen and offers, “I think I’m gonna pack us a picnic, what do you think?”

“Sounds great, honey. Put it in the big canvas bag, the one in the back hall, not the pantry.”

“Will do, and I’ll finish up the dishes too if you want to check on the kids?”

Christen smiles at her wife’s thoughtfulness but says, “I really think they’ll be alright, they get dressed every day, I’d rather keep you company,” as she presses a rather sloppy kiss Tobin’s cheek.

When all the kids are back downstairs with their shoes on, they let the dogs out to spend the day in the backyard and start the walk over to the park.

Knowing their kids, Tobin and Christen couldn’t be further from surprised when Hallie suggests to her siblings that they should play kids versus moms and her brother and sister readily agree.

The rest of the walk over, the kids are bursting with excitement at the prospect of beating their moms.

When they’re almost there, Brandon turns around and says, “Mommy, Mama, guess what?”

“What, baby?” they answer in tandem and then turn to each other to laugh.

“When we beat you, it’s gonna make us the – what’s the word you said, Hallie?”

“Supreme.”

“It’s gonna make us the supreme world champions, because you won the whole world and if we win you it’ll be like we won too!”

“That’s not quite how it works, B,” Tobin reminds him as she ruffles his hair, “but I can’t wait to see you try!”

As soon as they get to the park, the kids grab the ball from the bag that Tobin had slung over her shoulder and run off into the middle of the field.

Christen puts down the picnic bag and spreads out their blanket before taking the cones out of the soccer bag to make the goals.

“Should it be a shoes on or off kind of a day?”

“Do you really even have to ask?” Tobin shakes her head in mock-disapproval already taking her shoes off.

When the kids see their moms taking their socks and shoes off, they do the same and throw them over to the side.

Instead of giving in to the kids’ over-excited energy, which probably would have been easier, they wrangle them into a passing drill to warm up and then do some stretching to make sure no one (but mostly them) gets hurt.

For the first twenty minutes of play, they make it simple. They let the kids build play and then disrupt it right before goal. They let them score once (Tobin jogs instead of sprints back to cover).

The kids start to tease them for being slow so they gradually pick up the pace. The start connecting more and more passes before they turn it over and steal the ball back with more pace than they did at the start.

Soon, the kids are sprinting after them and just as soon as they get to where the ball is, whoever has it just chips it to the other until they get to goal. As they build, they add in some fancy footwork that occasionally causes the kids to stop in awe. They even surprise themselves with their ability to read the other’s movements off the ball and the precision of their passes.

The kids are starting to slow down and realize that maybe they’re not quite ready to keep up with their moms. Tobin can see that the game is coming to an end so when Christen gets her hat trick, she joins her in the traditional airplane celebration and scoops Casey and Brandon up in her arms along the way.

When she puts them down, Brandon asks in a voice full of wonder, “Mama, could you show us more?”

“Wha-da-ya say, Chris? Should we keep going?”

Christen just flicks the ball up and catches it on her back before rolling it back around to her feet and chipping it in Tobin’s direction.

The kids sit down to watch as their moms show them all their old tricks and they enjoy getting to see their moms so happy and care free.

When Christen has had enough (even in her 40s Tobin still doesn’t get tired of playing), she plops down next to the kids and Brandon crawls into her lap and says, “I think maybe we made a mistake,” which makes the whole family laugh, “you guys are still really good even if you’re old.”

Tobin scoops him up from Christen’s lap and says, still laughing, “thank you baby, but never tell a lady she’s old.”

Brandon looks at her, puzzled, “You’re not a lady.”

Laughing even harder she answers, “maybe, but your mommy sure is!”

Once they’ve all settled, Casey pipes up, “Can we get ice cream? I’m really sweaty.”

And even though it’s still early and they haven’t eaten the lunch they brought with them, it’s such a good day that Christen (and Tobin but the kids knew she wasn’t the one they needed a yes from) can’t help but agree.

They pack up their stuff and start the trek toward the other end of the park where the ice cream truck sits, all holding hands, with a renewed appreciation for how wonderful their family is.


End file.
